Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising Preview

It’s about mythology, about squad-based combat, about creating a visceral experience that takes the art of the massively multiplayer online game into the next level of gaming.

Perpetual Entertainment is the developer behind Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, an MMO – published by Sony – that will insert players into a time that saw the influence of gods, mythology creatures creating havoc, and power within the hands of those who followed the will of the gods and fought the darkness that threatened the lands.

But G&H is about so much more. This is a game that brings NPCs into the fold as followers of the player’s characters, but they are not throw-away pets. They level, they have feats and AI that will allow them to follow players orders but also exhibit an intelligence that will not force players to micro-manage them. Because the AI is so strong, and these NPCs level and gain new abilities, players are allowed to maximize their own character builds while not having to worry about finding a party with which to adventure.

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising was on display at the Perpetual studios in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference.

While most minions are human, they are not all Roman. There are 132 total minions in the game, and players can find them in major cities or acquire them through quests. They become part of your camp (minions go into camps and up to three can accompany the player) and players can fulfill their contract specifications to add them to the roster. Once in the roster, and once a player has several, he (or she) can organize them into formations and then set how they perform (aggressive, or defensive – for example). There are three types of minions – infantry, skirmishers and spellcasters.

Player camps contain two vital NPCs – Optio (the quartermaster) and the Custos Armocum (minion outfitter).

The GDC event was the first time that a hands-on opportunity was presented.

The game does have a few stutters yet, and the developers on hand even stated that some polish was needed in the control scheme, but still the combat effects were first rate, and the game was not too far off the beam of what the current crop of MMOs use for controls.

The attack effects were entertaining, to say the least, and the skills acquired bring a diversity to the combat moves. And even in the moments when the AI pulled off some spectacular knockdowns and stood on top of prone bodies and beating the player’s avatar on the back of the head with a club.

The game is filled with special moments, including those when the gods talk to the mortals and god abilities are acquired.

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising was an enjoyable gaming experience that had time slipping past far too fast. The player models are well done and there is a fair amount of customization available.

While work is still progressing on the title, the information released at GDC calls for release in the summer of 2007.